It will soon be 60 years since the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were instantly reduced to ashes by atom -bombs in August 1945. The cry of the Hibakusha that "the tragedy should never be repeated" has spread to become a worldwide call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Yet even now, tens of thousands of nuclear weapons still threaten the survival of humanity. The United States led the war on Iraq, and is now preparing more wars and even threatening to use nuclear weapons. These moves are causing deep anxiety throughout the world.
Unilateral attack against other countries is a violation of the rules of the UN Charter governing international peace. Above all, the use of nuclear weapons is a crime against humanity. It would cause unimaginable human suffering.
In May 2000, the nuclear weapons states agreed on an "unequivocal undertaking" to accomplish the elimination of nuclear weapons. In order to eliminate the danger of nuclear war and to frustrate new efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, this undertaking should be implemented without delay.
To make 2005, the 60th year of the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a turning point for a world without nuclear weapons and war, where the peace principles of the UN Charter are respected, we call on:
• The governments of the nuclear weapons states to neither use, threaten to use nor to develop nuclear weapons, and to take immediate steps for their abolition; and
• The governments of all countries to take action for the conclusion of an international treaty for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
